


Have You Ever Had A Crush?

by Squilkey



Series: Neighbours [2]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Coming Out, Confessions, Kippen Siblings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 00:50:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16692208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squilkey/pseuds/Squilkey
Summary: Two different stories separated by five years: One where TJ first admits his crush on Cyrus, and the other when Cyrus first admits his crush on TJ.





	1. TJ

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my series in which TJ and Cyrus are neighbours, and friends, since they were 5. Don't need to read in any order, but each part will piece together the universe, so reading them all would be fun.

Sunday night dinner was a tradition in their family. They weren’t overly religious, they didn’t even go to church outside holidays, but the Kippens still insisted they all have dinner with each other on Sunday nights. Phones were always banned from the table, so they were forced to have real conversations for an hour, which generally always involved school grades, sports, and grilling the two of them about their social lives. 

“So, how’d your first math test go?” Their dad asked Amber as they sat down to eat. 

“Really well! I answered every question and had over ten minutes left in the period,” she gloated. TJ rolled his eyes.

“And your math class, TJ?” He asked. 

“Still pretty awful,” TJ replied, copying Amber’s peppy attitude. 

“TJ,” his mom tested.

“What about your tutoring?” His dad asked. “That should be helping, right? I’m paying a lot of money for that.”

“Yeah,” TJ agreed, taking a bite of chicken, “I mean I’ve only been once, but it helped a lot with my homework.” His dad nodded, making a noise of acknowledgment. “We might have to move the days I have tutoring,” TJ commented. “I’m going to have basketball on Mondays when the season starts back up.”

“Well we’ll see if you still need to go by that time,” she responded. 

“I don’t think dyscalculia just fixes itself after a few months,” TJ said. 

“Well maybe yours will, you’re a smart boy,” she replied. TJ rose an eyebrow and shared a look with Amber, who shook her head. “Well, second week back at school, anyone catch your eye yet?” She asked. Ah, the dreaded ‘cute girls’ question. TJ’s mode of action was to always just disengage, be too busy eating to reply, or pretend he hadn’t heard the question. “TJ?” 

“Hm?” TJ replied, not looking up from his plate. 

“Any potential girlfriends?” She pressed. No, TJ thought. No way in hell. “Anyone caught your eye?” Okay, that one was harder to fight. He settled for a shrug.

“What about Cyrus?” 

The mention of his name caused TJ’s knife to slip on his plate, a screeching noise piercing the dining room. What? What about Cyrus? Why would she mention Cyrus? He knew Amber was frowning at him, unsure of what had just happened. He coughed. “What about him?”

“Does he have a girlfriend?” She asked.

“No,” he said quickly. “No, I don’t know,” he added.

“Have you ever had a crush, son?” His dad chimed in. What? Why was this happening right now? He wanted to say something, but really what was there to argue? Up until a few weeks ago, the answer would have been no. 

“I guess not,” he replied. It wasn’t a lie, and it was better than the truth would be to his dad. 

Amber’s eyes went wide, she shot her arm out, hitting TJ across the chest. Getting hit by Amber wasn’t anything new, or anything that really ever surprised him, so he barely flinched. 

“Yes, big sister?” He asked. She grabbed his wrist below the table, twisting it slightly, which made him yelp a little. 

“I need to talk to TJ for a minute,” she said to their parents. They exchanged an odd glance and then her mother nodded, allowing them to be excused.  Amber kept ahold of his wrist and dragged him up out of the room and up the stairs. Normally TJ would have put up a fight, but he wanted to know what this was about.

When they were more than far enough away to be heard, behind the door in Amber’s room, TJ pulled his wrist away, “What?” 

“You like Cyrus,” she stated, crossing her arms. Never mind, he definitely wasn’t interested in what she was thinking about. She wasn’t confused when she frowned, she was working it out.

“Of course I like Cyrus, he’s my best friend,” he covered. 

Amber shook her head. “No, you  _ like  _ Cyrus,” she repeated. TJ stayed silent, avoiding eye contact. “You’ve been weird around him since he got back from England. You’ve been avoiding going over there,” she pointed out. “And when we have gone over, you’ve been way more smiley around him. Acting like how he normally acts around you, actually,” she laughed. “I’ve been suspicious for a few weeks,” she admitted, “But tonight definitely confirmed it. When Mom asked about girlfriends and mentioned Cyrus, you freaked out.”

“I didn’t freak out,” TJ protested. 

“You freaked out,” she insisted. “You were worried that she knew something. And then Dad asked if you had ever had a crush and you said ‘I guess not,’ not no.” 

TJ sighed. “Okay.”

“So you do like him,” she confirmed. TJ just shrugged in response, his favourite, and her least favourite, answer. “Do you want to expand on that?” 

“No.” TJ gave her a fake smile and attempted to leave the room. Amber grabbed his wrist and jerked him back. He dropped down on her bed behind them and stared up at her, unamused. 

“Expand,” she demanded. 

“He used to be this,” he shrugged, “I dunno. This dorky little kid and then he left for the summer and came back and now he’s,” TJ gestured outward.

“He’s still dorky,” Amber pointed out. 

“Yeah but now he’s,” he gestured again. 

“Do you need an English tutor too?” 

“Fuck off,” TJ got up, “I’m not telling you anything.”

Amber blocked the door with her arm. “Oh come on,” she begged. “So what? He hit puberty and you started drooling?”

“You’re the worst,” he deadpanned. 

“Well you’re not giving me anything,” she countered. 

“What do you want me to say? That I think about him all the time? That everything he does makes me smile but every time I’m near him I get a little nervous? That I can’t stop thinking about how great it would be to just grab him and kiss him?” He stopped himself, realising what he was saying. Amber smiled and he rolled his eyes. “I hate you.”

“Mmm, I think you love me,” she countered. “Maybe not as much as you love Cyr—” TJ slammed his hand over her mouth. 

“Don’t go there,” he said. She licked his hand and he pulled it back, wiping it on his jeans. “You’re gross.” 

“Come on, we should probably finish dinner.” She finally stepped away from the door, letting him out first. “So what are you going to say if they try to continue the conversation?” She asked as they walked down the hall.

“I’ll tell them you’re a lesbian,” he said simply. She tried to smack him in the head but he anticipated it, ducking as her hand flew by. “Good try,” he teased, jumping down the stairs.  

“I know you’re joking, but if you out me I’m outing you,” she whispered. “Wait,” she stopped halfway down. “Are you gay?” 

TJ looked himself up and down and then locked eyes with Amber. “Guess so.” 


	2. Cyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andi had a secret to share, which leads to the Buffy and Cyrus having a discussion about crushes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 here in this little series

The playhouse on top of the jungle gym was the highest off the ground at the whole elementary school. Because of that, it was rarely used. Most kids preferred the swings or the monkey bars anyway, they didn’t want to deal with the tiny house you had to climb up to. Due to this, and their boundless confidence, Andi and Buffy regularly used the house as a meeting place during recess. Cyrus, however, was a little more nervous about the climb, so he opted to stay lower to the ground during most ‘important meeting’ days. Today, however, he was going to risk it.

Andi and Buffy had been whispering the whole morning, something about a secret—something. Cyrus wasn’t exactly sure, but they promised to tell him at recess, up in the playhouse. So he made the climb, he wasn’t going to be left out. Besides, he was nine now, he had seen first graders do it. 

Buffy grabbed his arm and pulled him in through the small opening when he arrived. With the three of them up there, it was a little cramped, but nothing they weren’t used to. Besides, being this close helped with secret sharing.

“So? Are you going to tell us?” Buffy asked. 

Cyrus frowned, “I thought you already knew!” At least he wasn’t the only one left out, he hated that. 

“I just know she has a crush,” Buffy admitted. “And she wouldn’t tell me all week.” 

“Oh,” Cyrus said. He didn’t want to admit he didn’t _really_ know what a crush was. It was when you liked someone, he got that part, but he liked almost everyone, so what was the difference? 

Buffy was elbowing Andi, “Tell!” 

“Okay,” Andi said, “But you have to pinky promise you won’t say anything.” She held out her pinky and wrapped it around Buffy’s, then did the same with Cyrus. She looks as if she was going to say something, and then backed out. “Guess,” she said. 

“Oh come on,” Buffy complained. 

“Can we have a hint?” Cyrus asked at the same time. 

“He’s good at art,” Andi said. 

“Walker!” Buffy yelled. 

Andi pressed her finger to her lips, “Shh!” 

“Is it?” Buffy asked much quieter. Andi nodded, smiling a little. “I knew it! You guys would be so cute together,” Buffy said. 

Cyrus nodded, “Are you going to tell him?” 

“Should I?” Andi asked.

“Yes!” The two of them responded together, a little too enthusiastically. “You’re both the best at art in our class,” Buffy pointed out.

“And you’re partners together on our English story,” Cyrus said. 

“Yeah so you could meet up with him outside of school,” Buffy added, Cyrus nodding along. 

“He also lives pretty close to me,” Andi revealed. Cyrus and Buffy grinned. 

“You should definitely tell him you have a crush,” Buffy insisted. 

“You should,” Cyrus added.

Andi looked down at the playground below. “Now?” She asked. Cyrus and Buffy looked at each other and then nodded.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Buffy asked. 

Andi shook her head, “No, I want him to believe me.” Cyrus knew a lot of boys and girls at their school admitted crushes as jokes. He was terrified that would happen to him (he would have no idea what to believe), but thankfully no one had come forward yet. “Wish me luck!” Andi said, stepping out of the playhouse. They wished her so and then watched her disappear down the rock wall.

Buffy nudged Cyrus’ shoulder. “Have you ever had a crush?” 

Cyrus frowned, “I don’t know. What’s the difference between a crush and a friend?” He finally asked. 

“Hm,” Buffy thought. “I guess a crush is someone that you like better than everyone else, but you aren’t sure why. You just want to be around them all the time and you get weird feelings in your stomach when you are. Kinda like butterflies when you’re nervous, except it’s just when you’re doing normal things,” she said.

Oh. He did know what a crush was.

“On a boy?” Cyrus asked, just to double check. 

“Well it would be a girl for you,” Buffy said. Maybe he didn’t have a crush then. Maybe Buffy was wrong about that feeling, maybe it meant something else. “But some boys have crushes on boys,” she added. Back to square one. 

“I think I do,” Cyrus admitted. 

Buffy’s face lit up. “Have a crush?” She asked excitedly. “Tell me!” 

There was no reason he shouldn’t, right? “TJ,” he said. 

“Your neighbour?" She clarified. Cyrus nodded. "You have a crush on him?" She sounded surprised. 

“I think so. I have a weird feeling in my stomach when I’m with him, like you said. And I thought that just meant he was my best friend, but I don’t feel that when I hang out with you,” he looked to Buffy, “No offence.” 

Buffy rolled her eyes and knocked his shoulder, “I know.” They sat in silence for a moment, Cyrus was unsure of whether he should keep talking about TJ or not. His crush somehow felt different from Andi’s, he knew he couldn’t just run off and admit it. 

“Is that okay?” Cyrus asked.

“Is what okay?” 

“That my crush is on TJ,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” 

“It's weird. I feel different from Andi,” he admitted. 

Buffy took his hands in hers, squeezing them lightly. “Cyrus, you’re no different,” she promised. “Maybe you can’t go admit your crush like Andi can, but that day will come,” she squeezed his hands again, “I promise."


End file.
